Fremantle coach Ross Lyon hoping for 'rub of the green' from umps

Ross Lyon hopes the “rub of the green” in terms of umpiring decisions begins to turn Fremantle’s way.

The Dockers coach said he was frustrated by umpires guesses about off-the-ball incidents they hadn't seen, citing an incident involving Geelong’s Steve Johnson from last weekend as well as the shifts in the way games were being officiated.

He said players and coaches were struggling to keep up with situations such as his team getting four free kicks in a game against the Western Bulldogs in round four and then in round 20 having 39 paid in a half in the contest against Geelong.

“There is clearly a shift in the way the game was umpired. I think that is indisputable,” Lyon said.

“The congestion was building, then there is another shift … then the marking contests became different interpretations that we had adapted to under [former umpire bosses] Rohan Sawers and Jeff Gieschen, so there was a clear shift and some teams adapt better than others.

“But there has been a clear shift in the second half of the year. Like, we played the Bulldogs and we got four free kicks for the game, in a congested game, but then you get seven or eight weeks later and there’s 39 free kicks paid in a half.”

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Lyon said these shifts could occur even during a game after umpires had spoken to their coaches at half-time - a process he could understand and likened to him addressing his players at the main break.

And he even conceded that his side had to take a look at the way it was tackling.

“We are having a good look at it, our high tackles. We are tackling a bit high, maybe a little bit reckless,” he said.

“But it’s hard to get a handle on it while it is swinging [with] wild fluctuations within games.”

But situations where instigators of off-the-ball incidents were awarded free kicks because an umpire made a guess as to what happened, were a little harder for Lyon to understand – especially when free kicks resulted in goals in tight games.

"We know in the Geelong game here, the interchange, Steve [Johnson] has the propensity to grab his opponent, take him to the ground and hopefully the instigator doesn’t get caught and we get pinged and that happened with Cam Sutcliffe on the weekend – which really cost us a goal," Lyon said

“So Cam was running, he checked Steve. Steve pulled him around the neck, pulled him to the ground and then the umpire guesses and they’re the things we get frustrated with.

“But in saying that, that’s not the reason we lost, or would have won the game.

“But they are frustrations.

“So, they’re the things that can sort of frustrate you, but I am certainly not an umpire basher. Hopefully the rub of the green will turn at some point for us.”